The present invention relates generally to scheduling activities, and more particularly, to a method, system, and storage medium for optimizing scheduling activities in a manufacturing environment.
Scheduling refers to the labor, equipment, and facilities required in order to produce a product or provide a service. It is typically the last stage of planning before production activities are implemented. Various scheduling methods (e.g., backward scheduling and forward scheduling) have been created that are selected by an entity based upon the nature of operations being conducted by the entity. Further, scheduling activities may be categorized by long-term, intermediate-term, and short-term scheduling. Short-term scheduling is focused on work center loading and job sequencing functions. Sequencing refers to the release of work orders to a job location and the issuance of dispatch lists to a specific machine. Oftentimes, scheduled jobs or lots ready for processing await dispatch while sitting in a job queue. Priorities are often assigned to the jobs or lots depending upon the entity's and/or customer's goals. Priorities may also be defined by methods such as a critical ratio (CR) number that is generated by dividing the number of days remaining before the due date by the required processing time for the lot. Lots with lower critical ratios are considered a higher priority.
These and other priority scheduling methods suffer several disadvantages. For example, using CR scheduling in an over-loaded work location may cause all lots to equally absorb delays in their cycle time irrespective of their assigned priorities. Using an assigned priority scheme alone may result in wasted resources where the scheme drives specified lots with a high priority to be processed well before their due dates where a specified lot with a lower priority could have been accelerated to meet its due date.
What is needed, therefore, is a way to optimize scheduling activities in a manufacturing environment.